I received really great feedback, mostly from people who have some connection to Norway or people who have Norwegian ancestry.

Today, I’m continuing on with another family favorite: Sweet soup.

Growing up, we would eat traditional Norwegian foods on special occasions. This sweet soup is one of those foods. It’s something my grandma used to make with pride: a sweet combination of dried fruits, tapioca, and spices.

This is the first time I made sweet soup (sot suppe, in Norwegian) myself. It was very easy.

And the best part? It tasted just like the kind my grandma used to make. That makes me very happy.

How To Eat Norwegian Sweet Soup

Since this recipe will be unfamiliar to many of you, I’m offering up a few ways to enjoy it:

Sweet soup can be eaten hot or cold

Serve with heavy cream on top

Serve on top of cottage cheese

Serve on top of unsweetened yogurt

Serve with sliced cheese on the side (a sharp white cheddar would be nice)

This is a special occasion recipe, more than anything – at least that is how we always enjoyed it.

Make a batch for your family Christmas celebration, Easter or Syttende Mai (17th of May).

Norwegian Sweet Soup (Sot Suppe)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Use any combination of mix dried fruit (ingredient #5, below). I used a combination of dried apricots, apples, and prunes.

The starch in the tapioca helps to thicken this soup. I recommend large pearl tapioca, but a smaller tapioca would also work.

Ingredients

5 cups water

1/4 cup large pearl tapioca

1 cup chopped prunes

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup mixed dried fruit, chopped

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Zest from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

Soak tapioca in water overnight. In the morning, add fruit, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest.

Cook over medium-high heat in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan until tapioca is clear and the fruit is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Allow to cool. Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Did you make this recipe?

We’d love to see it!

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33 Comments on “Norwegian Sweet Soup (Sot Suppe)”

I was told that sweet soup was made for new mothers. It was fruit to help the mother from becoming constipated. Hey, I am just sharing what I was told. Mom made it for me after my first baby. Maybe I should started eating it a day or two before. LOL

I cooked the pearl tapioca for an hour, and it still hadn’t turned clear. I added the rest of the ingredients and threw it in my slow cooker. After about two houra on high, the tapioca was clear and unburned. Double win!

So fun to find this! I just made my family’s version for the first time myself after growing up eating my mom’s, after her growing up with her grandmother’s… it’s a long tradition. 🙂 Really enjoying the connection to my Norwegian roots.

I’ve been making søtsuppe for many years usually at Christmastime. One year I made such a big batch I canned it, which was a first for me, and how handy to just grab a jar off the fruit cellar shelf. The one thing that is necessary, is to soak the tapioca overnight. There is just no other way to soften it, so you have to plan a day in advance. For some years now I have made it in a double boiler, and I find that it is a better way than on the stovetop. If you cook on the stovetop and forget about it, it can scorch and stick. PS: Thanks for the tip about eating it over yogurt! Ha en god dag! 🙂

My grandma called this “Chadding Soup”. I’m not sure how you would spell that in Norwegian but that’s how it sounded to me as an English child. She said that meant old woman soup and that it was called that because it helped with constipation.

This was also served by my mother and grandmother. After the birth of my first child my mother made some sweet soup and said the very same thing. It was always served with heavy cream or as a treat with vanilla ice cream. Now I’m making it for my very old dad to remind him of his Norwegian Mom.

I lived in a Norwegian home as a teen, and the mom in the household made Norwegian fruit soup/pudding, but instead of tapioca, she used pearl barley. It was always delicious and can be served cold in summer or hot in winter. Add a dollop of sour cream or whipped cream, which ever you want.

Grew up eating this every Christmas <3 might make this year and surprise my sister. I believe moms recipe is in a cook book somewhere. Excited to see how the recipes match up. I remember she would let hers simmer with a cinnamon stick.

I have been enjoying sweet soup since I was a child when my dad would make it. He only used prunes, raisins and cinnamon sticks. I suppose in rural Minnesota that was all he could find. My wife and I have been making it every winter for the 44 years we have been married but have really doctored my dads recipe. What we are having a hard time finding is “good” large pearl tapioca. What we get never leaves any “fish eyes”. It all just disolves away. I miss the fish eyes.

I made your sweet soup and it was wonderful. It’s is almost identical to my late MIL’s recipe which I could not lay my hands on at the time, so I found this and used it as my guide.
I used raisins, dark and golden, prunes and dried cranberries, which sort of fell apart but left a wonderful hint of red color and a slight tanginess to the soup. I also used the cinnamon stick instead of the powder. I started with 1/2 cup sugar, and upped it to your measurement (due to the cranberries), as well.
I linked this recipe in an email to another favored blogger, Deb Perlman, of Smitten Kitchen. I was looking for a compote recipe there to compare sweet soup to a compote for fruit addition ideas. I didn’t find one and thought she might like to take a look at this. I hope you don’t mind that I linked this.

Do you have a recipe for “raspberry pot pie”?
My grandmother, whose family came from Sweden used to make it when I was a kid. We all loved it
I’ve searched for years without success to find anyone who’s familiar with it
I’m 80 years old, and I’d surely love to have some today.
Thank you.